Many
have come to the conclusion that Secession by those States that desire
to throw off the ties of tyranny is necessary--more so now than ever before
in America’s history. I would place myself into this category. There
are many in the United States who argue with this conclusion, either on
the basis of practicality or right.

As to
the question of practicality, its analogy is like a husband and wife asking
the question, “can we now afford to have children?” The answer
most always is “no.” Having children is always a sacrifice
and inconvenience. Of course no one prefers inconvenience, but such a
price should be willingly paid where freedom is obtained. Thus, at some
point, a State must act upon the freedom to be gained at the cost of the
sacrifice to be initially made.

As to
the basis of right, most do so based upon a scheme of creative constructions
and implicit arguments of the U.S. Constitution or based upon the results
of the Civil War.

While
I can, to some degree, “stomach” those who argue that the
U.S. Constitution prohibits secession, I am repulsed by those who argue
that the results of the Civil War “settled the issue” of secession.
I do not desire at this time to get into the fatal error of this position
and implied philosophy, but I will state conclusively that if one really
believes this, then he or she has to accept the logical conclusion that:

-
this union is held together by force alone and not by the consent of the
governed, thus making us all slaves to the union; - the Confederate States of America were States controlled
and occupied by an enemy conqueror, and still are today; - the U.S. Constitution has nothing to do with the legitimacy
or rightfulness of the union’s forceful existence; and- “might makes right.”

I find
those positions to be dangerous to liberty, freedom and rights and do
not see how holders of such positions can adhere to any principles resulting
in freedom as expressed by the Declaration of Independence.

However,
for the student of truth and freedom, coming to the conclusion of Secession’s
right and necessity obtains from the study of nature and the principles
and laws derived therefrom, just as America’s founding fathers did
in 1776 by their expression in the Declaration of Independence.

As I
wrote about in my previous articles, Secession
or Declaration of Independence, Parts 1-5, people have a certain immutable
nature which leads them to form society for certain beneficial purposes.
These people will lay down a certain part of their natural rights to receive
the benefits of that society. As a result, that society inevitably forms
government to protect their natural rights from others in society so that
each may live in peace and for the purposes they entered the society.
The supreme law of the land is their peace, security and happiness, and
any natural rights once laid down may be picked up again to secure these
ends.

Moreover,
such persons will never lay down their natural rights to the destruction
of their benefits in that society, whether the destruction comes from
society itself or from the government designed to protect their rights
and freedoms. In truth, governments becoming destructive to these ends
are illegitimate and without authority, as determined by the society affected
by that government. Thus, the scientific formula of separation from society
or government must be studied to understand when it is necessary to avoid
destruction.

Natural
Tendency Towards Concentration

The
study of nature and sociology reveals that the progress of evolution tends
to concentrate and unify once-separated parts into a coherent whole:

“the
development of the heart in the embryo, and the fusion of bones after
birth; the unification of sensations and memories into knowledge and thought,
and of knowledge into science and philosophy; the development of families
into clans and gentes and cities and states and alliances and the ‘federation
of the world’: here is the integration of matter,--the aggregation
of separate items into masses and groups and wholes.” [1]

Like
gravity’s pull, this process of sociology attempts to consume smaller
parts into larger ones, such that “the growing power of the state
lessens the freedom of the individual” and the society itself.[2]
Freedom decreases and diminishes, and the government replaces it with
control for the sake, survival, coherence and crescendo of the concentrating
system itself.

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Among
other societies for example, the history of the United States proves this
scientific theory: a system of decentralized, smaller, individual parts,
with more independence, sovereignty and freedom, has become a system of
a centralized, integrated whole, with less independence, sovereignty and
freedom of the individual parts.

Concentration
Becomes Dangerous to Freedom

From
this evolutionary process, “the growth of the individual organism
beyond a certain point is dangerous.”[3]
It is dangerous because it removes from the individual parts their ability
to execute their own will for their own purposes (i.e. the consent of
the governed, limited government and self-government):

“A
social organism is like an individual organism in these essential traits:
that it grows; that while growing it becomes more complex; that while
becoming more complex, its parts acquire increasing mutual dependence;
that its life is immense in length compared with the lives of its component
units;…that in both cases there is increasing the integration accompanied
by the increasing heterogeneity.” [4]

As a
result, “the centralization of government and authority tend to
reduce the scope of [each society retaining its own consciousness and
its own will].”[5]
In other words, each individual society (e.g. each state) becomes enslaved
to the will of the concentrated whole (e.g. the federal government/union),
with all avenues of self-government eliminated. In the end, the evolutionary
tendency of centralization and concentration proves destructive to the
parts consumed by the whole.

Natural
Response to Dangerous Concentration

For
this reason, many objected to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution
proposed in 1787. Based upon similar reasons, the States insisted on retaining
the sovereignty (i.e. the smaller parts) not delegated to the federal
government in the tenth amendment. For this reason, the founding generation
expressed in the Declaration of Independence their natural right to alter
or abolish any form of government that becomes destructive to the ends
for which that particular society formed it: to rid themselves of the
concentrated danger and to disperse into smaller parts. [6]

Inevitably,
out of the dangerous growth of concentration produces smaller and separate
parts for the survival and persistence of the matter involved (e.g. society):
“[concentrated] growth gives way, after a time, to reproduction
[of smaller parts].”[7]
It is not just natural that these smaller parts be produced out of the
dangerous whole; it is good and necessary.

Secession
Is Natural and Becomes Necessary

This
natural process of “producing smaller parts” reflects the
principle in “The Evolution of Life” where “the completeness
of life depends on the completeness of this correspondence [of internal
relations to external relations]; and life is perfect when the correspondence
is perfect.” That is, where the internal relations (e.g. States)
observe that the external relations are destructive, the internal relations
correspond proportionately and accordingly. Some have described this phenomenon
as a “fight or flight” reaction--flight obviously
being the most peaceful and expedient for survival.

Moreover,
“[t]he correspondence is not merely a passive adaptation; what distinguishes
life is the adjustment of internal relations in [an active] anticipation
of a change in external relations, as when an animal crouches to avoid
a blow.”[8]
When a State sees the dangerous “blows” of the federal government,
their survival, perpetuation and success depends upon their proportionate
corresponding reaction to that external force of their destruction. The
more serious the blows, the more serious the reaction must be.

Where
a State determines that the external relation (i.e. the federal government)
is becoming destructive to the ends for which it formed it, that State
must act proportionately and accordingly. Nature demands that the people
of States who are most sensitive to their own happiness protect the liberty
and freedom in which their prosperity and security will thrive. The happiness
of the entire world depends on it, not to mention the State’s individuals,
families, communities and society.

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Secession:
this is the natural process in which freedom lives and perpetuates, just
as notable Herbert Spencer describes in his Principles of Sociology:
“as groups in which there is little subordination are subjugated
by groups in which subordination is greater, there is a tendency to the
survival and spread of groups in which the controlling power
of the dominant few becomes relatively great.”[9]

Evolution
may tend towards concentration; but ultimately, the thesis of concentration
becomes the anti-thesis of liberty, and as philosopher Herbert Spencer
observes, “Liberty contends with Evolution for priority…and
Liberty wins.”[10]
Liberty’s method of victory: Secession.

Footnotes:

1,
Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, Chapter on Herbert Spencer, (Garden
City, NY, Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., 1927), 398.2,
Id., 398.3,
Id., 403.4,
Id., 410.5,
Id., 410.6,
“If such presumptions [of federal tyranny] can fairly be made, there
ought at once to be an end of all delegated authority. The people should
resolve to recall all the powers they have heretofore parted with out
of their own hands, and to divide themselves into as many States as
there are counties, in order that they may be able to manage their own
concerns in person.” Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Paper 26
(emphasis added).7,
Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, 403.8,
Id., 402.9,
Id., 317 (emphasis added). See Also, “TO BE FREE FROM SUCH FORCE
is the only security of my preservation, and reason bids me look on him
as an enemy to my preservation who would take away that freedom which
is the fence to it.” John Locke and C. B. Macpherson, ed., Second
Treatise of Government, (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.,
1980), 15.10,
Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, 422.

Timothy
Baldwin is an attorney from Pensacola, FL, who received his bachelor of
arts degree at the University of West Florida and who graduated from Cumberland
School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, AL. After having received
his Juris Doctorate degree from Cumberland School of Law, Baldwin became
a Felony Prosecutor in the 1st District of Florida. In 2006, he started
his own law practice, where he created specialized legal services entirely
for property management companies.

Like his father,
Chuck Baldwin, Timothy Baldwin is an astute writer of cutting-edge political
articles, which he posts on his website, www.libertydefenseleague.com.
Baldwin is also the author of the soon-to-be-released book entitled, Freedom
For A Change, in which Baldwin expounds the fundamental principles
of freedom believed by America’s forefathers and gives inspiring
and intelligent application of those principles to our current political
and cultural standing.

Baldwin is involved
in important state sovereignty movement issues, including being co-counsel
in the federal litigation in Montana involving the Firearms Freedom Act,
the likes of which is undoubtedly a pivotal and essential ingredient to
restoring freedom and federalism in the states of America. Baldwin is
also a member of freedom organizations, such as The Oath-Keepers, and
believes that the times require all freedom-loving Americans to educate,
invigorate and activate the principles of freedom within the States of
America for ourselves and our posterity.